The present application relates to a 3-dimensional operation input apparatus for operating a GUI (Graphical User Interface), a control apparatus for controlling the GUI in accordance with information output from the input apparatus, a control system including those apparatuses, a control method, and a handheld apparatus.
Pointing devices, particularly a mouse and a touchpad, are used as controllers for GUIs widely used in PCs (Personal Computers). Not just as HIs (Human Interfaces) of PCs as in related art, the GUIs are now starting to be used as an interface for AV equipment and game devices used in living rooms etc. with, for example, televisions as image media. Various pointing devices that a user is capable of operating 3-dimensionally are proposed as controllers for the GUIs of this type (see, for example, Patent Documents 1 and 2).
Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2001-56743 (paragraphs [0030] and [0031], FIG. 3) discloses an input apparatus including angular velocity gyroscopes of two axes, that is, two angular velocity sensors. Each angular velocity sensor is a vibration-type angular velocity sensor. For example, upon application of an angular velocity with respect to a vibrating body piezoelectrically vibrating at a resonance frequency, Coriolis force is generated in a direction orthogonal to a vibration direction of the vibrating body. The Coriolis force is in proportion to the angular velocity, so detection of the Coriolis force leads to detection of the angular velocity. The input apparatus of Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2001-56743 (paragraphs [0030] and [0031], FIG. 3) detects angular velocities about two orthogonal axes by the angular velocity sensors, generates, in accordance with the angular velocities, a signal as positional information of a cursor or the like displayed by a display means, and transmits it to a control apparatus.
Japanese Patent No. 3,748,483 (paragraphs [0033] and [0041], FIG. 1) discloses a pen-type input apparatus including three (triaxial) acceleration sensors and three (triaxial) angular velocity sensors (gyro). The pen-type input apparatus executes various operations based on signals obtained by the three acceleration sensors and the three angular velocity sensors, to thus calculate a positional angle of the pen-type input apparatus.
However, there is a problem that, since a user moves an input apparatus unstably in air, it becomes difficult to perform an accurate pointing operation like placing a pointer at a specific position on a screen, for example.
To solve this problem, a variability function for velocities or accelerations of a pointer is used in a planar-operation-type pointing system generally used in PCs and the like. As an example of the variability function, Windows (registered trademark) adopts a function capable of changing velocities or accelerations of a pointer. By applying an acceleration function to a movement of a pointer, a velocity of the pointer becomes higher as a velocity of a pointing operation (e.g., velocity of mouse) becomes higher. Therefore, since the velocity of the pointer becomes low when a velocity of a mouse is low, an accurate pointing operation becomes possible.
The 3-dimensional operation input apparatus, however, does not include such an acceleration variability function. In other words, a time when a velocity of the input apparatus and a velocity of the pointer become linear is more intuitional for the user than a time when an acceleration is added. Targeting a plurality of users, the inventors of the present application have conducted an experiment on sensibility of nonlinearity of velocities of the input apparatus and the pointer while making a comparison between the planar-operation-type mouse and the 3-dimensional operation input apparatus. The result showed that most users are more sensible to nonlinearity when using the 3-dimensional operation input apparatus than when using the planar-operation-type mouse. This is considered to be because, as compared to the planar-operation-type input apparatus, the 3-dimensional operation input apparatus is operated while being aimed at a screen as if to directly input to the screen information on a movement of the input apparatus, that is, as if using a laser pointer.
On the other hand, a result of a similar user test showed that most users had been unable to recognize the linearity when operating the input apparatus at an extremely low velocity. In this case, most users were only able to recognize a tendency of a qualitative movement, that is, a fact that the pointer moves fast when the input apparatus is moved fast or the pointer moves slowly when the input apparatus is moved slowly.
Moreover, irrespective of a velocity range of the input apparatus, the users as test targets had high perception sensitivity to following capability with respect to sharp acceleration and deceleration, and had been able to recognize even a 10 ms-order delay, for example. In addition, a result that an operational feeling becomes more favorable as the following capability during an operation becomes higher was also obtained.